Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 5, 1999 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 , PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ; ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 » FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net We can’t rest FOR A GLIMPSE of the future in the northwest, | _ drive 90 miles west to Prince Rupert. Turn right ,|- at the intersection containing the Green Apple « fish and chip restaurant. Continue down. and around the comer, park in the big lot on the left. ‘Then walk past the little row of shops and businesses, past Smiles and more businesses un- til you come to the large green building on the left. Look to the right and you’ll see a new aluminum walkway. It leads down to the docks below you. What you’ve just done is encountered a new and growing collection of gift shops, restaurants . and bed and breakfasts. That aluminum walkway is intended to be the welcoming portal to an in-_ dustry begging to be tapped — cruise ships. What’s happening in Prince Rupert is the be- ginnings of a new way to make a living from the ocean. With hundreds of cruise ships gliding past’ its doors to Alaska each year, the opportunity is there for untold economic benefits. This should also be a benefit to Terrace. Any increase in economic activity in Prnce Rupert means a gain for this city. But there’s also a warning in all of this. Al- though Terrace is logically the central location for commerce and enterprise in the northwest be- - cause of its geographic placement, this strength can also be a weakness. There could be that temptation to sit back and assume that all roads will still lead to Terrace. Just consider what has happened in Prince Rupert. It did what everybody said were the right things in having a diversified economy. But in . less than a year the city had its main economic legs kicked out from under. That weakness is now being turned into a strength through its cruise ship docking and other waterfront-devel- opment plans. Terrace would do well not to rest upon its geog- raphic laurels and to continue to develop its tourism infrastructure. The goal is always to be ready for what happens next. Do the math GOVERNMENTS DON’T like to get too far ahead of the crowd on certain issues considered unpopular and too expensive. Two examples are right up here — the growing. chorus to lift the oil and gas drilling moratorium off the north coast and to provide $40. million in. capital to improve and re-open a closed pulp line at Skeena Cellulose’s Prince Rupert pulp mill. We think the province is literally busting a gut to lift the drilling moratorium. All that it is wait- ing for is a sign that supporters of the move out- weigh any damage the NDP might suffer from its - traditional environmental movement support. As for Skeena Cellulose, the NDP has to stick handle its way through the clouded thinking of southerners on how important the company is to this section of the province. The rewards for each project are as tangible up here as they are in the south for our economic benefit will have impacts elsewhere. ‘PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel « NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens 1998 WINNER . . CCNA BETTER NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton NEWSPAPERS OFFICE MANAGER: Sheila Sandover-Sly COMPETITION CIRCULATION MANAGER: Carol Kirkaldy ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Bedford, Bunnie Cote TELEMARKETER: ‘Tabatha Orange DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur _ AB ASSISTANT: Julie Davidson SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.30 per year; Seniors $50.75; Out of Province $64.39 Outside of Canada (6 months) $158.25 _ (ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) MEMBER OF B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCLATION. CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND WCNA corres B.C, PRESS COUNGIL "pal amen oe Serving the Terrace and Thomhlt area. Published on Wertasday of aach weal at 3210 Clinton Streat, Terrace, Hritish Columbia, V8G 5R2. Stories, photographs, Iftustralions, designs and typestyle? in the Terrace Slandard are the property of the copyright halders, including Cariboo Press (1968) Ltd, its illustration repro services and advertising Reproduction in whole or pat, without written permissic, is spetifially prohibed. Authorized as second-class mail pending the Pos! Office Department, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents ‘for thelr tiie and talents GET LOST, JOKER. LWASHERE FIRST... a Thanks for a job well done VICTORIA - In a society that ranks public servants just slightly above politi- cians, it is important, no, it is necessary to express thanks to Cynthia Morton for a job well done, very well done, indeed. , For two years, Morton served as British Columbia’s first Children’s Commis- sioner. Her term, unfortu- nately, has expired. The position of Children’s Commissioner was created in the aftermath of Judge Thomas Gove’s report on the circumstances surrounding the life and death of five- year-old Matthew Vaudreuil, whose unimaginable suffer- ing and dying horrified the nation. Morton, a lawyer by pro- fession, came to British Columbia in 1993, after leaving a civil service posi- tion with the Ontario govern- ment. She oversaw some long-overdue changes in British Columbia’s child welfare system and, in 1997, was appointed head of the newly-created Children’s Commission. The commission’s man- date is to review deaths of all children in the province and investigate those it decides require and investigation. The commission also reviews and investigates critical injuries sustained by children in the care of the Do the APRIL 23, 1999 is a date juvenile delinquents will remember. That Friday “marks perhaps the first time a person in Canada was held civilly liable for a criminal offence committed while a juvenile, After a three-day trial, a B.C. Supreme Court judge awarded monetary damages to a letter carricr who was kicked in the face by two teenagers in 1993, The victim, Paul Glover, is 5 foot, 7 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. One of his teenage assailants stood six feet tall and weighed 200 pounds. At the time of the Sep- tember assault, the teenagers were 14 and 15 years old. Convicted of assault, they were ordered to perform 100 hours of community service. Glover spent nine days in hospital, He was unable to work for five months. He FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER Ministry of Children and Families. The Commission, further- more, is mandated to “inform the people of British Columbia about the state of ‘the province’s: family-serv- ing system, and invite public comment on the Commis- sion’s work,” One of the first cases Morton had to deal with fol- lowing her appointment was that of Baby Mally. Molly had been placed into foster care by the government, against the objections of her aunt, Cindy Engbrecht, who had offered to and was more than capable and qualified to looking after little Molly. While in foster care, Molly was shaken and beaten into permanent dis- ability by her foster mother. It was a bad start for Morton. But during the two years she served as commissioner, Morton has not only identi- fied the problems underlying the system but laid the groundwork for an extensive overhaul, and overseen implementation of some important changes. In her last annual report, Morton lists a number of requirements that will pre- vent children from falling through the cracks of the system, the way Matthew and Molly did. Managers and front-line staff, she says, must have the best possible training and the tools they need to deliver the services that are to protect children. Risks to children in gav- ernment care, Morton says, must be properly assessed,’ and plans for the children’s future formulated. Morton also sees the effects of poverty, isolation and racism as a threat to the welfare of children, especially aborigi- nal children, and urges gov- ernment to deal with these issues. “Although only about eight per cent of B.C. chil- dren are aboriginal, over 20 per cent of child fatalities we reviewed in 1998 were deaths of aboriginal chil- dren,” she says. Among the measures implemented last year was the establishment of new standards for child protec- tion and guardianship prac- tices of child protection workers. The former were implemented, the latter post- poned. But progress is made. “The Children’s Commis- sion is making a difference in the lives of children across the province through its . work directly with children and through its oversight of the child-serving system. “We believe the hopes of the many people who have worked years to improve the lives of children and youth, which culminated on Judge Grove’s report, are being addressed,” Morton says in her report. There is a post script to the Molly case. When Mor- ton first talked to Molly’s ‘aunt, Engbrecht considered her just another bureaucrat sent to do a white-wash of a system in disarray. Instead, - she found out that Morton, like her, was a fighter, inter- ested in bringing about change. And to show her admira- tion for Morton, Engbrecht has nominated her for the Y¥M-YWCA Women of Dis- tinction awards. British Columbians should whole- heartedly second that nomi- nation. Beyer can be reached at — Tel: (250) 920-9300; e-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; web: http:/Avww. hubertbeyer.com/ crime and pay the bill THROUGH BIFOCALS. CLAUDETTE SANDECKI surgeries to repair his smashed jawbone, shattered nose, and fractured skull. His left eye still bothers him. Five years ago Glover filed in civil court for com- pensatory and punitive dam- ages. He named the parents, legal guardians of the teenagers, as well as his assailants. April 23 in Vancouver, Justice Jon Sigurdson damages, plus court costs, to be paid by the two young men. With accrued interest, the total bill is $80,000. What a surprise for the two, now 20 and 21, to be held financially responsible for a “violent and ferocious” assault on the Burnaby 37- year-old. Not only are they being held financially responsible for damages they inflicted while they were teenagers, but thanks to a change in the Bankruptcy Act nineteen months ago, they will never be able to escape this debt. Paul Forseth, Reform MP for New Westminster- Coquitlam, proposed — and the federal government adopted — changing the Bankruptcy Act so no vio- lent offender can wiggle out of paying court awards by claiming bankruptcy. This debt will dog them uniil it is paid. . The full influence of Mr. Justice Sigurdson’s decision wan't be known immedi- ately. But you can bet other victims of violence will queue to file for compen- satory damages. Money won't lessen the victim’s pain or suffering, but it. will bring a measure of justice. What’s 100 hours of com- munity service? The new reality of being held financially responsible ~ in adulthood — for random violence committee while a teenager may make some young people think twice before they beat up on any Reena Virks, Jessie Cad- mars, or Paul Glovers. An award of $63,000 does little to ease Glover’s pain, loss of income, or dis- tress to his wife and chil- dren. But at least he’s had a say in meting out punishment to these two offenders. 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